Los Angeles weather forecasts this week are raising a red flag warning for wildfires

Dangerously strong winds were expected to resume Monday in Los Angeles, potentially hampering efforts to put out the stubborn wildfires that have swept across the area and claimed at least two dozen lives.

Santa Ana’s dry winds of 80 to 112 kilometers per hour are expected to resume Monday and continue through Wednesday, the National Weather Service said as it issued a “very dangerous” red flag warning.

The most dangerous day will be Tuesday, fire forecaster Dennis Burns warned at a public meeting on Sunday night.

As expected, Gov. California Gov. Gavin Newsom said over the weekend the state was prioritizing firefighters in high-risk areas including those near the Palisades and Eaton fires, two of the largest blazes burning in Southern California.

At least 24 people died in the fire that started on Jan. 7. The flames have reduced the entire area to smoldering ruins, leaving a terrible scene. Officials said at least 12,300 structures were damaged or destroyed, and firefighters from Canada, Mexico and seven other US states converged on the Los Angeles area to help their California-based counterparts.

The return of strong winds threatens the hard-won progress of firefighting crews. Over the weekend, aerial and ground firefighters were able to contain the Palisades Fire as it entered the upper Brentwood area and advanced toward the densely populated San Fernando Valley to the north.

That fire west of the city has consumed 96 square kilometers and is at 14 percent, a figure that represents the percentage of the fire boundary that firefighters are controlling.

The Eaton fire in the mountains east of Los Angeles has burned 57 square kilometers – itself almost the size of Manhattan – although its content has risen to 33 percent.

In the north of the city, the Hurst Fire was contained at 89 percent, and three other fires that destroyed other parts of the region are now contained at 100 percent, reported the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection of California (Cal Fire), although the areas inside. it’s possible that the wiring harness is still burning.

‘Like something out of a movie’

In Altadena on the edge of the Eaton Fire, Tristin Perez said he never left his home, defying police orders to evacuate as the fire raced down the hill.

Instead, Perez persisted in trying to save his property and the homes of his neighbors.

“Your front yard is on fire, the palm trees are lit up – it looked like something out of a movie,” Perez told Reuters in an interview on the way.

“I did everything I could to stop the line and save my house, help save their houses.”

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With strong winds expected to return on Monday, officials warned all of Los Angeles County’s nearly 10 million residents to be prepared to evacuate.

As of Sunday afternoon, more than 100,000 people in Los Angeles County were under evacuation orders — down from a previous peak of more than 150,000 — and another 87,000 faced evacuation warnings.